This musical leans more on Jones's original book than the famous film, which means the reinstatement of plenty of sex and swearing. This is for grown-ups. The BBFC gave From Here To Eternity a PG... if it doled out certificates for theatre you'd want to up that a couple of notches.

On an army barracks in '41, we're introduced to 30-year-old Private Robert E. Lee Prewitt (Robert Lonsdale), a champion boxer and expert bugler who has retired his gloves and instrument for "personal" reasons, much to the annoyance of Captain Dana Holmes (Martin Marquez).

Against his better judgement, Prewitt buddies up with Brooklyn-born Private Angelo Maggio (Ryan Sampson), who takes him to the brothel where he meets and falls for Lorene (Siobhan Harrison). Meanwhile First Sergeant Milt Warden (Darius Campbell) tries to hook up with Karen Holmes (Rebecca Thornhill), the unhappy wife of his boss Captain Holmes.

Intertwining stories, love, life and death play out as war looms. The battered arch backdrop and clever use of screens and curtains are as classy as can be. The choreography from Javier De Frutos is beautiful. Who doesn't love a bunch of ripped guys in army fatigues bouncing over single-bunk beds, or a slow-mo punchup?

And despite some dodgy accents (though nothing near as bad as The Bodyguard), there's some very strong acting. The fling between Campbell's Warden and Thornhill's Holmes is entirely believable. Prewitt and Lorene's love is more lightweight, but still hangs together. The revelation though is Sampson's Private Maggio.

You may have seen Sampson as the bratty child genius Luke Rattigan in Doctor Who, or perhaps in Fresh Meat or Plebs, but he was born for this role. The stage comes alive every time he speaks or sings, and if the rest of the characters were as multi-layered as he makes Maggio, this would be a triumph.

As it is, the other protagonists are too one-dimensional to really get behind, despite the actors' best efforts. There are hints of depth behind Lorene and especially Kelly, but they ultimately feel like two helpless damsels hanging off equally ill-motivated men. The women are not poorly represented in terms of stage time or song quality, but it's a let-off to just point to 1941 as an excuse for making the female characters so flimsy.

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Robert Lonsdale (Private Robert E Lee Prewitt) and Cast in 'From Here to Eternity'.
Copyright: Johan Persson
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While the source material and setting can explain all the effin and jeffin, a shirt-dropping bare bum first half finale, a prosthetic urinating penis, suspender flashing in a brothel, "wops" and "jewboys" and "queers" and "ass", it frequently feels forced. Roddy Doyle got away with the swearing-as-punctuation in The Commitments because it seemed real. In From Here To Eternity there's not enough grit for real truth, and too much for the musical reality in which we find ourselves.

From Here To Eternity also clumsily handles a key series of unfortunate events to rob them of their coherence and, more importantly, their emotional wallop. If a crybaby like me isn't sobbing into his jumper at certain scenes, then something has gone very wrong. The pieces don't quite fit together for the characters, and it doesn't earn the teary payoff it needs.

But there's still so much to like, especially in a stronger second half where you can't help but get swept up in the melodrama like a whirlpool. The more the play leans over the top, the more the epic gets frayed, the more there is to fall for.

And there's a clutch of fantastic numbers that stick in the mind from the very first listen. 'G Company Blues', 'Thirty Year Man', Lorene's 'Run Along Joe' and especially Maggio's 'I Love The Army' are the real victory of From Here To Eternity, proving that decent, narrative songwriting can hold its own on the stage against the easy wins of the jukebox.